Succulents and More™

Growing cacti from seed is quite easy, but it requires patience. Depending on the genus and species, it may take two, three, four, or even five years for seedlings to grow into flowering-size specimens. I already have well over 100 cactus seedlings in my care, between the German echinopsis hybrids I mentioned recently , other open-pollinated echinopsis hybrids (‘June Noon’, ‘First Light’, and ‘Flying Saucer’), as well as dozens of assorted Astrophytum asterias . If you got tired just reading this, I sympathize. However, I had so many spectacular echinopsis hybrids flower earlier this spring that I decided to harvest seeds from two of them. The first is a German hybrid, Echinopsis ‘Liskes Feuerzauber’ (in the U.S. usually referred to as ‘Magic Fire’). It debuted this year with flowers that blew me away: Echinopsis ‘Magic Fire’ Echinopsis ‘Magic Fire’ Some cacti produce seed pods that dry up and release the seeds when they’ve become brittle. To harvest the seeds, all you have to do i...

In my post about the 2026 San Francisco Succulent Expo , I committed a cardinal sin: I didn’t show my plant haul. Let’s remedy that immediately. I didn’t get a lot because a) I don’t really need more plants (how often have I said that?), and b) little else jumped out at me. Agave utahensis (especially var. eborispina ) is one of my favorite agaves. I found the motherlode on the table of Bay Area grower Mary Parisi: Four beautiful Agave utahensis (three var. eborispina , one var. utahensis ) at a price too good to pass up Priced at $22.50, I couldn’t resist even though I already have about a dozen Agave utahensis The remaining three plants I bought came from the table of San Diego County nursery Botanic Wonders (Al Klein and Anthony Neubauer). They have a well-deserved reputation for impeccably grown plants. Hamatocactus hamatacanthus (left) and yellow-spined form of Ferocactus latispinus (right) Deuterocohnia brevifolia , a mat-forming terrestrial bromeliad from Argentina and Boliv...

Last weekend was the 2026 San Francisco Succulent Expo hosted by the San Francisco Succulent and Cactus Society (SFSCS). Below is a quick recap. My main reason for going was to volunteer and to help friends who were vendors, so I didn’t take as many photos as I otherwise might have. I also didn’t have my “good” camera with me, just my phone. Held at the San Francisco County Fair Building next to the San Francisco Botanical Garden , the San Francisco Succulent Expo is the largest event of its kind in Northern California. 30+ plant and pottery vendors filled the large main gallery. Here are just a few photos to give you an idea of what it was like: The most expensive plant I saw was this impressive Dioscorea hemicrypta , yours for $2000. That may seem shockingly expensive, but bear in mind this specimen is decades old. Somebody had to take care of it all this time. (Coincidentally, another Dioscorea hemicrypta by Nick Wilkinson of Grow Nursery won Best in Show.) Dioscorea hemicrypta I...